Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak told his cabinet that the peace process in its current form is "at the end of the line" and that the Sharm el-Sheikh summit must end the violence, a statement released after the regular Sunday meeting said.
"The prime minister feels profoundly that the peace process in its current form is at the end of the line," according to the statement following the meeting, a day before Monday's make-or-break summit with the Palestinians.
"In the final analysis, we will make peace with the Palestinians, but the current Palestinian leadership is currently showing enormous difficulties in deciding on an accord," it said.
Barak told his ministers that the summit must end the violence "and put in place a mechanism to reduce the risk of a resumption of violence and to examine the events which have occurred in the past two weeks," the statement said.
Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat are due to meet at the Egyptian Red Sea resort on Monday in a summit that will also group US President Bill Clinton, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II.
Another Palestinian man died of wounds from clashes with Israeli troops in a Ramallah, West Bank, hospital on Sunday, bringing the total dead to 107 people, the vast majority Palestinians, in a two-week wave of violence in the troubled territories and Israel.
Some 3,000 people have been injured since the upsurge in violence started September 28, when Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon infuriated Palestinians by visiting a disputed site in Jerusalem held sacred by both Muslims and Jews – JERUSALEM (AFP)
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